The Crossing of the Paths
Second Edition
By MMM/AJ
Part I: Desert Wind

A/N: Hey again readers, if you're here reading this note then I'm super grateful you've stuck with me! I know the last chunk was a bit heavy and I can totally understand if that might turn some people off. Fortunately I can say that this chunk does not have any deaths in it!

That doesn't mean it will lack any punch though, there's some new twists still waiting for you at the end! I am very proud of this one too, since I managed to squeeze in a shitload of new little details to enrich the story and make everything feel more connected. There's more than a couple callbacks to previous chunks, see if you can spot them all!

And also, this chunk marks the halfway point of Desert Wind! There's 14 Chunks total, so only 7 more to go before we finally catch up to where I'm currently working. Hope you've enjoyed as much as I have!

Chapter 17: Ven'vha

There was no real rest for Mewtwo after he collapsed in the middle of the desert. He did manage to sleep right through it when his Rakeshan companions carried him back to the vehicle and put him back in his seat, but soon that sleep was again infiltrated by the glowing red eyes of the Gaze.

It was almost a relief that the bizarre, consciousness-warping power of dreams seemed to rob Mewtwo of the immediacy of his loss. The reality of the dream insisted that its own brand of dread take center stage, so the bleeding wound of grief was shunted into the background for now. He found himself once again staring at those lidless, slitted pupils in the same black void as before. Knowing there was nothing he could do to fight back or escape them, he instead sat quietly and waited, hoping that the voices he'd heard before would reappear again. He didn't have to wait long.

"...beast attack on their caravan ...effect... We watched from... subject ... devastated by..."

"...only managed to kill one... hoping for a better casualty rate..."

"The beasts are tremendously difficult to control... been allowed to use telepathic... more effective ...managed to kill ...or more if we had the necessary control ...devouring... rate may not matter... a VIP, and... emotional... As far as... mission was..."

Mewtwo's eyes widened in shock as he realized what was being said. This was the clearest message he'd heard from the dream yet, and the context was unmistakable. This made it all the more frustrating when his sleep was once again interrupted. He opened his eyes and saw Sumati gently shaking his shoulder to wake him.

"I apologize for waking you Mewtwo, we're almost to Ven'vha."

Mewtwo sat up and rubbed his eyes. He was back inside the same Helmasaur as before, sitting in the rearmost seat where he could lean against the back wall and sleep. A rusty old sheet of scrap metal had been strapped to the back of the Helmasaur to replace the door that the Molduga had ripped off. Dull pain throbbed through the burns on his hands and the bruise on his ribs. He could hear the hum of the engine around him and saw the familiar faces of all the same Gerudos in the passenger compartment, save for one. The seat where Ruisa had been sitting had been left empty. Mewtwo felt his guts sink when his eyes settled on that empty seat. The grief struck all at once, but it didn't feel like a physical blow. It felt more like he had drank a gallon of swamp water and the sludgy weight of it was boring down into his belly and spreading its cold, murky tendrils. His mind didn't even know how to process the grief, all he could do was sit in silence and stare. He expected tears to come pouring out of his face just like when Ai left him back at the desert spring, but something about this particular grief made it impossible for him to express. He struggled with it for a few moments, feeling a wave of guilt over the fact that he couldn't bring himself to cry. Then his mind suddenly caught up and realized that the fact that they were now driving on through the desert meant that he had missed whatever moment of silence or funeral service that the Gerudos might have given to Ruisa before moving on.

"Sumati, what happened while I was out? Did the tribe actually hold Ruisa's last rites without me?"

Sumati nodded her head in a somber manner. "We had no choice. If ten moldugas could show up midday to attack the caravan, then who's to say more wouldn't show up while we sat there waiting for you to come out of your sleep? We know that at least three of them stayed behind to feast on the bodies of their comrades; there was a chance that they could return to the chase. The danger was far too great to simply linger there, so the Chief said the rites quickly and we buried her as best we could before leaving as soon as possible."

Mewtwo understood the logic behind this decision quite clearly, but to a part of him it still felt like an insult that he hadn't been allowed to be there for Ruisa's last rites. Anger and resentment welled up inside him over this despite his conscious mind's understanding of the extenuating circumstances. He clenched his fists quietly and closed his eyes, biting back the foolish urge to snap at Sumati.

"I'm sorry Mewtwo, I know she was your friend. I saw how you struggled to save her, all of us know you did everything you could. If things were even slightly different-"

"Did we manage to find and regroup with all the other Helmasaurs in the caravan?" Mewtwo asked tersely, interrupting Sumati before she could finish.

"Yes, they all escaped the jaws of the beasts thanks to the Chief's quick thinking. We've already returned to formation, Ven'vha will be appearing over the horizon in a few minutes. Mewtwo, I..." Sumati trailed off.

Mewtwo felt a stabbing combination of remorse and self-hatred for allowing himself to be so rude to Sumati. He could see some grief on her face now too; it was clear she wasn't taking Ruisa's loss well either. He was being goddamn selfish in treating her this way.

"Sumati, I'm sorry. I...that was awful of me. You didn't deserve that."

"It's alright, I understand. We all cope with loss in different ways. My second mother Avilyn angrily renounced the Goddesses when my first mother Vimati died. I could see in her all the anger at the injustice of the loss, and perhaps now you feel that too."

Sumati then reached out and put her hand on Mewtwo's hand as a gesture of forgiveness and empathy. For a brief moment he was left at a loss for words, but he at least managed to curl his fingers around her hand and give it a firm squeeze. Despite the nasty stinging of the pain from his burns, the grip was comforting. Again he was profoundly touched by the compassion of the Rakeshan people; never once had he met so many people who actually followed through on their philosophy of kindness. Aside from the one named Ash, so many humans back on Earth were more than willing to preach about kindness and selflessness while still indulging in their greed and apathy. The Gerudos meant it when they called him their brother, and in that moment it was the anchor he needed to keep himself from coming unmoored in his ocean of grief.

"Thank you, Sumati. Did you know her too?"

"Not closely, but she was a familiar face that I always saw smiling whenever I sang. The stories I heard from her sisters in arms were always impressive, despite how brash she could sometimes be. Our tribe is greatly diminished by her loss, not just in terms of strength but in passion and perseverance."

Sumati returned the squeeze on Mewtwo's hand as she spoke. He winced a little bit from his burns and closed his eyes as he took in those words, feeling immensely grateful to Sumati for giving him at least some sort of cathartic speech about Ruisa. He still didn't seem able to cry yet, but now the guilt he had felt about it was significantly lessened.

"Are you alright Mewtwo?" Sumati asked, picking up on his expression easily.

"I burned my hands with the gun while killing the Molduga. It must have overheated when I was firing it rapidly."

"Ah, I'm so sorry! I didn't know your hands were hurt."

Sumati quickly released her grasp in order to avoid hurting him further, then rifled through her bag and produced a familiar small vial of red liquid.

"Here, you can have my potion ration. Your bravery in the face of the Molduga is at least worth that."

Mewtwo gratefully took the offered vial and carefully uncorked it with his teeth so that he didn't irritate his fingers any further. As soon as he downed the bottle's contents the pain stopped dead in its tracks. When he looked at his palms he could see the angry red skin return to its usual healthy tone. The bruise vanished from his side and his old wrenched wrist even stopped hurting.

"Thank you Sumati, that helps immensely. I appreciate your generosity."

He sat quietly with Sumati for awhile longer, not paying attention to the passage of time or the other Gerudos in the compartment around him. The warmth of Sumati's kindness kept him soothed for awhile longer, though eventually his mind returned to the grief of his loss. It wasn't until he heard Kalana speaking softly to Hadara that he snapped out of it.

"There it is. Thank the Goddesses there's no smoke or flames this time."

Mewtwo opened his eyes and leaned forward a little in order to peek up at the cockpit for a glance at their screen. The sandstorm from earlier had vanished entirely, leaving clear cloudless skies. It was mid evening outside, starting to approach sunset but not quite there just yet. They must have made good time to get here this early. Ahead in the distance he could see a much taller mesa sticking up out of the desert, almost five times larger than any of the others they had seen. This must be Ven'vha, he could barely make out the windows carved into the rock that indicated a settlement inside. It was similar to Ven'rakesh, if Ven'rakesh's mesa was massively taller.

"Din be praised, it's about time something didn't go horribly wrong." Hadara muttered.

"No kidding. Still, I don't think Chief Lasheera will be pleased to see us, so we should approach the situation very delicately." Kalana replied.

"Absolutely. We'll pull up the road and stop at the gate, then ask the gate guards to parley. You and I can go out alone, everyone else will stay inside their vehicles. I am starting to wish we had brought Q'diri along with us now, she could have met with Kamilia in my stead in order to avoid dealing with her vendetta against me. Alas, hindsight."

"We didn't exactly plan to visit Ven'vha in the first place anyway. No way we could have predicted this."

Another period of peaceful silence settled in after this. Mewtwo couldn't help but feel a mild but growing sense of disgust taking root in his stomach after hearing Hadara and Kalana chitchatting in such a casual manner so soon after Ruisa's death. It felt wrong to not even show any outward signs of sadness mere hours after someone's tragic demise. It came off as disrespectful in a way that was difficult for him to verbalize. He sat there and stewed in this for an indeterminate length of time as Ven'vha grew closer and closer in the distance. As they got closer, Hadara flicked on her radio and began to announce her plans to the rest of the caravan, instructing everyone to stay put once they had parked outside the gate. Her tone was so dry and uncaring that Mewtwo finally couldn't hold in the frustration any longer. He turned and whispered to Sumati again.

"Sumati, isn't it callous to just move on like this without any lingering grief for the dead? Hadara and the others are acting like it's business as usual mere hours after Ruisa's death."

Sumati winced a little, her expression becoming a mixture of awkwardness and sympathy. She needed a moment to find the words to properly address his concerns in a gentle manner.

"Mewtwo, you have to understand that life on the Vile Desert isn't always as easy as you've seen. The last few decades of life in Ven'rakesh have been comparatively peaceful as the beasts of the desert have been less and less active. But there have been numerous times when we've suffered tragedies. There have been failed raids on Sulaaq towers leading to heavy casualties, coordinated raids on Ven'rakesh by Lizalfos war parties, and multiple instances of people making deadly mistakes when dealing with Moldugas. Death is a fact of life for our people and we have been forced to learn to treat it with quiet reverence in a fast and pragmatic manner. This isn't even the first time we've suffered losses during Taji Alirha. It's become a part of all Gerudo culture now to not linger for long on funerary rites in order to move on to pressing matters quickly. We would not have survived as long as we have if every single death caused our people to be paralyzed with grief for days on end when the blades of the Lizalfos are mere inches away from our necks."

"I suppose that makes sense..." Mewtwo replied, trailing off.

Again his emotional side and logical side were duking it out inside his brain. There was some sort of disconnect in how he perceived his own inability to cry versus the casualness of the chief's speech. They were both similar in that they were a lack of outward signs of grief, but Mewtwo was at least showing SOME sadness in his inflection and facial expression. Their facades seemed so perfect that it was almost impossible to tell the feelings were there at all. He had to actively fight back that disdain by reminding himself that the Rakeshan people had far more experience with bottling up their grief than he did, perhaps by orders of magnitude. He settled back into a period of silence again and leaned forward to watch the screen some more.

Ven'vha was close enough now that he could make out some actual detail. He estimated that the mesa was at least 500 feet tall, if not morseo. It was encircled by an upward-spiraling road that had been carved into the rock much like the one at Ven'ravé, giving them a path from the base of the mesa to the main gates. It looked like the vast majority of the settlement itself was carved into the top of the mesa with minimal tunneling into the lower areas, but once they reached the base of the cliff he could spy some narrow, vertical embrasure holes carved into the cliff face facing out onto the road. It seemed like the Vha'an people had a fairly clever set of defenses. If enemies wanted to attack the town they would be funneled up the only road that could reach the gate easily while the Gerudo guards peppered them with arrows from inside a parallel tunnel all the way to the top. The only alternative would be to climb, as the mesa was far too tall for ladders. Given the sheer verticality and sandblasted smoothness of the outer surface, climbing didn't look like a very feasible option either.

The caravan had to line up single file in order to travel the road safely; even though there were wooden railings around the outer cliff edge it was clear that the Helmasaurs easily had enough horsepower to break through and fall. They came up to the base of the mesa and lined up neatly, then began to float up the spiral road at a much slower pace. Once they came up to the gates, Mewtwo saw that these ones were made from the same chunks of black steel salvaged from Sulaaq structures, but they had left the spikes intact in order to make them even more dangerous. These were taller than the gates at Ven'rakesh and Ven'ravé, but a little more narrow. There was one single watchtower built just inside, manned by a Gerudo woman in blue clothes. She was already shouting something back into the village, but the screen wasn't transmitting any sound.

"Alright everyone, you know the plan. Wish us luck." Hadara said, then paused a bit and turned to Mewtwo to speak to him specifically.

"Mewtwo you might have already sensed it, but the Sulaaq tower's drain device here is down. Taji Alirha traditionally dictates a raid so that we can use magic during our festivities. But as tempted as you may feel, don't use any of your powers until we've introduced you to Chief Lasheera. She has an incredible talent for sensing magic in a very large radius, and if she were to sense your powers as something different from our magic she might storm over here and find you before we explain your true nature. Stay put, stay quiet, and don't use even a mote of your powers until I give the all-clear, understood?"

"Yes I understand."

Hadara nodded and then reached up to unlatch the hatch on top of the Helmasaur and haul herself up and out. With the rear door out of commission it was the only way in or out. Kalana got up to follow her, but paused to give Ruru a kiss on the forehead and Mewtwo a pat on the shoulder before leaving too. Now Mewtwo was alone with Sumati, Ruru, and the other four who had been riding along with them. They sat silently for awhile, waiting wordlessly and sitting in their seats. Before long though Ruru got bored and got up from her seat to walk over to the cockpit.

"Young lady what are you doing up there?" Sumati asked in a firm tone.

"I'm bored! I want to hear what they're saying so I'm going to turn on the screen and sound and watch. I won't touch anything else I swear!" Ruru replied.

She sat down in the pilot's seat and tapped the console briefly, turning the screen back on. With another button press they got an audio feed from outside. Sumati climbed up into the cockpit and began to drag Ruru out.

"I don't want you accidentally pressing something else now, come on. We'll leave the screen on at least, but you can watch from back here."

"Alright alright!"

Sumati set Ruru on the floor in the center of the passenger cabin so she could still see the screen. Everyone else in the cabin, including Mewtwo, leaned in to watch and listen. By now the gates to Ven'vha had been swung open and a procession of Vha'an Gerudos had arrived. There were two large guards wearing the Armor of the Iron Knuckle there, though it was trimmed in blue instead of red, and four other guards without any armor. Hadara was talking to another older Gerudo woman who was very clearly Chief Kamilia Lasheera, judging by her older look and the elaborate golden tiara and headdress that she wore. Kamilia was a little taller and thinner than Hadara and had much longer hair. Her hair was all grey, but it was tied into a ponytail that hung down below her knees. All the Vha'an Gerudos wore similar styled outfits to the Rakeshan people, but in a deep, lapis blue instead of red. The helmasaur's external microphones just barely managed to pick up their conversation.

"-what you're doing parking your entire population outside our doorstep after we explicitly agreed not to choose each other for Taji Alirha for a decade?"

"Trust me when I say I did not come here by choice, Kamilia. We were meant to go to Ven'ravé this year, but when we arrived we were met by a horrifying sight. The entire settlement was dead. All of it."

"Wh-what?"

"One third of the structures had been set ablaze and there were scorch marks from Sulaaq weapons all over the settlement. The most telling part however was the fact that there were no bodies left. We swept the entire village and we couldn't find a single soul, living or dead."

A shattered, dread-laden pause settled over Kamilia for several seconds before she could bring herself to reply. "How can this be!?"

"I believe that the Sulaaq conducted a full-scale raid on them. The lack of bodies would seem to indicate that they came to take slaves. I came here because I feared any of our remaining settlements could be next. I knew that the Suulan people would be here already and decided to come anyway simply because three of our tribes fighting together stand a much better chance of surviving than one or two of us."

A look of anger began to play out over Kamilia's face as she replied. "Fool! All that does is make it that much easier for the Sulaaq to come and destroy us all in one fell swoop! Do you even remember why we split apart into four tribes in the first place?! It was to make it more difficult for them to hunt us down and drive us to extinction!"

"Yes but-"

"Are you really under the delusion that any number of our warriors could make a difference if a whole platoon of Immortals showed up? They have towers literally covering the entire world! One Chosen could be enough to slaughter us all and it's boundlessly naive lunacy to think that we could stand a chance just by army size alone!"

"Hmmm, that's funny coming from someone who calls herself a Hopeseer, Kamilia. You know I was hoping we could mend our bonds now that I have changed my views and become one too." Hadara retorted.

"Being realistic about the capabilities of our weapons against theirs does not make me a Doomseer, Hadara! It makes me a pragmatist. Frankly, even if you have changed your views about my grandmother's prophecy it won't change that."

"Well, what if I had something that could?"

Kamilia gave Hadara a look of complete mocking disbelief. "You have something that could stop an entire platoon of Immortals armed with beam weapons riding in Helmasaurs?"

"Actually, yes. As long as the Drain Device on the local tower is kept offline. I have a mage whose power is so potent that he faced a Chosen side by side with my daughter and won."

"It's true. His power equalled or even surpassed that of the Chosen. I saw him destroy the entire top floor of one of their towers with nothing but the power of his mind." Kalana added.

"Are you actually serious? Well then show me this mage!" Kamilia said.

"I will, but before I do I must warn you, he is not a Gerudo. Nor is he a Goron, nor any of the beastfolk that walk the desert. His appearance looks more akin to a Sulaaq than anything else, but he is not one of them. If I call him out here, you need to have your guards stand down so they do not immediately attack him on sight."

Kamilia gave Hadara a skeptical frown, then gestured to her troop of guards to leave. They shrugged and headed through the gate back into Ven'vha. Hadara then gave Kamilia a nod and ran over to poke her head into the front Helmasaur.

"Mewtwo, we're ready. Come with me."

Mewtwo felt his heart begin to race as he climbed to his feet and clambered out of the hatch. He could see Kamilia staring at him the entire time as he dismounted the Helmasaur and walked up the road toward the gate. A mixture of disbelief, shock, and mild fear played over the craggy chief's features. Mewtwo stopped in front of her and gave her a respectful bow.

"Sav'saaba. It's an honor to meet you Chief Lasheera. My name is Mewtwo."

"Sa'oten!" Kamilia gasped softly, struggling to come up with any other words.

"He may look fearsome but he has a selfless heart. If it weren't for him my younger daughter would still be a Sulaaq thrall right now." Hadara said.

Mewtwo began to feel slightly unnerved by Kamilia's gawking silence. He shuffled through his own mental repository of pleasantries for something else to say, but fortunately she managed to speak first.

"Well Hadara was certainly right about your resemblance to the Sulaaq from old fables. You are a wizard of great power then?"

"In a matter of speaking. My 'spells', as you call them, come from the mind. I have no knowledge about how traditional Gerudo magic functions, but I suspect my power and its power are merely two different means to the same end."

"Hadara's claims about your skill are certainly very grandiose. She told me you could defeat an entire army of Immortals. I still find myself incredulous, would you care to give me a demonstration of that power? Perhaps you can lift one of your tribe's Helmasaurs?"

Mewtwo smirked a little. Finally he had a chance to show off! All that anxiety melted away in an instant and he gave a nod to Kamilia.

"I'll do one better."

He sent a short telepathic message to the Rakeshan people inside the caravan, letting them know to hold on and that everything was going to be fine. He then turned to face the caravan, raised one hand, and called up his telekinesis. When he felt the energy actually respond this time it was such a rush of relief that he almost forgot his grief for Ruisa entirely. With practiced ease he grabbed every single Helmasaur and Terrapin in the entire formation and lifted them up off of the road and carried them dozens of feet up into the air. His whole body glowed with a brilliant blue aura as he channeled his power. That same aura encapsulated every single vehicle he was holding. He held them approximately 50 feet above the ground for several seconds and then turned his head to give Kamilia a confident smile.

"If the Sulaaq send their forces here I will toss them aside as easily as a child tosses a toy. This is just the beginning of what I can do."

"By the Goddesses!" Kamilia exclaimed in a quiet, awed tone.

"Ok Mewtwo you made your point, you better put them down before someone climbs out of a hatch and falls." Kalana said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Mewtwo could see an amused smile on Kalana's face though. That look seemed to imply she felt quite vindicated after telling tales of what she'd seen him do during the tower raid, and was also amused by Kamilia's reaction. Mewtwo still nodded in agreement and gently set the caravan down on the exact same spots they had been parked at before. Once they were safely nestled onto the sandstone ground Ruru popped up out of the hatch on top of the lead Helmasaur and shouted out at them.

"That was so cool!"

Hadara turned and called back "What did I tell you about staying put young lady?!"

Mewtwo still snickered though, finding joy in Ruru's energy. For a brief moment he found himself warmly reflecting on how much of a bright spot she had become in his life. But Kalana gently nudged him to remind him that Kamilia was still right there, so he quickly turned around and gave her an expectant look.

"Well, what do you think? When I became an honorary member of the Rakeshan tribe I swore to do everything in my power to protect them. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to offer protection to the Vha'an and Suulan people too."

"What do I think? I think I need to take Hadara and Lamira aside and have a private meeting. This is a lot to take in!" Kamilia replied.

"Can we bring the caravan inside the village walls in the mean time?" Hadara asked.

"There's no way it will fit inside the village proper, the Suulan caravan is already parked in the square. We could use the unfinished storage chamber my people have been carving out inside the mesa this year, but it might be a little cramped."

"Good enough for me. Let me get my people organized and the vehicles parked and then we'll have our meeting." Hadara replied.

"Good. In the mean time, Mewtwo I would prefer it if you would avoid being seen by the public for now. One of the things we need to discuss is how to prepare them to meet you so they aren't terrified by your appearance."

"Of course, this wouldn't be the first time I've had to do that."


Initially Mewtwo tried to stay with the Rakeshan caravan as they pulled into the village and drove down a ramp into the underground storage chamber. The ramp was located directly inside the settlement's main gate, just off to the left, so all the caravan had to do was pass the gate and take a left to start gliding down into the dark passageway. There was barely enough space to fit all of them but they had to park like sardines packed into a tiny tin can, which blocked all the back ramps and forced them to use the narrow top hatches on their vehicles to exit instead. Most of the Rakeshan people chose to stay put for now since there still seemed to be some uncertainty about whether Kamilia would allow them to stay. A handful climbed out to stretch their legs, but Mewtwo stayed behind for awhile longer.

Unfortunately the quiet solitude in the dark, cramped interior of the Helmasaur proved to be an ill-suited haven. The storage chamber only had a scant few torches for lighting and the light they cast couldn't penetrate into the vehicle interior while its screen was shut off, leaving them in near pitch blackness. Most of the Gerudos chose to nap at this point, and the silence left Mewtwo's mind to drift back to his grief for Ruisa. He sat there unmoving in the cramped little seat for an interminable amount of time and stewed in his sadness until finally he decided that enough was enough. With as much silence as he could manage he climbed through the top hatch and left the Helmasaur behind.

Fortunately Mewtwo didn't have to stay hidden within the confines of that dimly lit garage. Without having to worry about Kamilia sensing him anymore he was able to simply hide himself in a psychic cloaking field and float around Ven'vha to explore. He used the opportunity to map out the settlement, though he was careful to float above people's heads in order to avoid bumping into anyone. What he found was a full blown town, far bigger than Ven'rakesh or Ven'ravé, with a population of more than a thousand Vha'an tribesfolk. Digging down into the center of the mesa had allowed them to hollow it out and create a circular, donut-shaped structure with four tiers like Ven'ravé. The round clearing at the bottom housed the central plaza where the Suulan caravan's Helmasaurs were parked. Suulan Gerudos, recognizable by their verdant green finery, had converted their Terrapins into shop stalls for trading with their Vha'an sisters. The square was bustling with activity; hundreds of members of both tribes were boisterously haggling over fine fabrics, weapons, armor, and salt-preserved meats. Golden decorations and polished rupees shimmered in the last rays of sunlight as sunset began to set in.

Further exploration proved that Mewtwo's initial assessment of the town's depth had been significantly incorrect. A warren of tunnels had been dug down into the mesa's interior beneath the central square. The Gerudos had merely avoided digging too close to the mesa's outer edges, most likely to prevent creating any weak points where foes could dig or blast their way inside to bypass the town's defenses. That lack of exterior windows aside from the arrow slits along the road had been what initially fooled Mewtwo into thinking there was minimal tunneling. The biggest chamber had been the incomplete storage room where the Rakeshan vehicles had been parked, but all around it were smaller rooms for habitation and storage interconnected by torch-lit halls. Numerous tiny chimneys had been intricately carved all throughout the stone so that each home and hall could be properly lit without choking the entire interior with smoke. The Vha'an flag was prominently flown on poles or displayed in carvings everywhere, and Mewtwo noted that it was the exact same symbol as the Rakeshan flag except depicted in blue rather than red.

Once Mewtwo had a general feel for the town's layout he decided to give into his curiosity and use his cloak to try to eavesdrop on the meeting of the chiefs. Kamilia had told Hadara to follow her to her own personal house on the top tier of the town, and the house was easy to find since it had four huge brass torches on its roof that held roaring flames. He knew that Kamilia could most likely sense his abilities being used however, so instead of blatantly sneaking into her home he floated over and quietly landed on the roof in order to wait and see if she came out there to shoo him off. He could just say he was exploring around and wanted to rest, and didn't know it was her home in particular. For a few brief moments he thought that he was going to get away with it, maybe she couldn't sense through his cloak? But after fifteen or so seconds a wooden hatch on the roof popped open and Kamilia's scowling face emerged.

"Alright Daha'ra, I know you're here. Show yourself!"

Mewtwo sheepishly dropped his cloak and began to say the line he had rehearsed in his head.

"Apologies chief, I didn't know that-"

"Tut tut, do not take me for a fool. I'd take greater offense from that than the eavesdropping itself. Now come, we wanted to ask you some questions anyway so you might as well join us."

Kamilia then gestured to Mewtwo to come with her and climbed down through the wooden hatch. He sheepishly followed her down, though struggled to fit his tail and hips through the narrow square opening.

Inside Mewtwo saw a cozy little combination bedroom and study. There was a two-person king sized bed with blue sheets, a fireplace set into the sandstone wall, rows of bookshelves all built into the walls, and a large wooden table with four chairs. Hadara and one other Gerudo woman, who Mewtwo assumed was chief Lamira Nurali of the Suulan tribe, were sitting at this table. Lamira was a fair bit younger than the other two chiefs, looking to be the human equivalent of middle-aged rather than outright geriatric. Aside from her rich green finery she also carried two Sulaaq pistols strapped to her hips and wore golden hoop necklaces around her neck. They were in the middle of a boisterous argument, but it immediately came crashing to a halt when Mewtwo climbed down the small wooden ladder and entered the room.

"Hmmm, so you are the one called Mewtwo then?" Lamira asked, giving him a curious look.

"That is correct. I apologize for eavesdropping on your meeting, curiosity got the best of me."

Mewtwo bowed a little to Lamira before taking a seat at the table. She shook her head and gave a brief dismissive gesture with her hand in response.

"It is of little consequence. We are not discussing anything that requires secrecy. We have been discussing what to do about the Sulaaq threat. It seems your chief wishes us to become nomads just like in the old days."

"I am not saying that's the only path to take, just laying it out as one of several options." Hadara interjected.

"It should be our last resort, not something we consider initially. We can't just decide to pack up our villages and become nomads overnight, it's just not feasible." Lamira said.

"Nobody's saying we need to pack up and leave tonight Lamira. We don't have enough Helmasaurs and Terrapins to accommodate the entire population of Ven'vha anyway. If we do decide to become nomads once again then we'll need to raid the further tower in the North to steal more of them first. Given we still don't know what provoked the Sulaaq to attack Ven'ravé, it very well could have been a similar raid that brought their wrath down. We should spend some time investigating before we act rashly"

"Investigating? How do you propose we do that? Even if we freed all the thralls at our local towers, they've never been privvy to any information about the motivations and goals of the Sulaaq themselves. We'd need to actually capture and interrogate a Chosen to get any clues." Kamilia said.

"I can read their language." Mewtwo interjected.

All three chiefs immediately went silent and turned their gazes on him. Not even Hadara had known that about him; he and Kalana had kept it secret out of fear it might make her grow distrustful of him.

"You... you can?" Hadara asked in disbelief.

"I don't know how it's possible, but the language I saw in their Helmasaur screens is one of the same languages used by humans in my world. I could easily go to one of their towers and attempt to read their consoles for any information that could be useful."

"Wait wait wait, 'your world'? Are you some sort of planewalker from the Sacred Realm?" Lamira asked in utter disbelief.

Mewtwo sighed in frustration as he came to grips with the fact that he'd have to explain these things all over again.

"Not from the Sacred Realm, but another world called Earth. I already explained this to Hadara before, but I came here to this world using my powers in order to find a peaceful place to live away from the humans back home. They had the most unfortunate habit of attempting to enslave me in order to use my powers for their own gain. But they did not possess anywhere near the technology that the Sulaaq have, making the link of a common language all the more perplexing. I do have a potential theory however."

"Well let's hear it!" Kamilia urged.

"I believe they are a creature known as Zoroarks, which are able to take on any form they like with their power of illusion. Normally they are native to my world as well, which would seem to fit well with the common language too. But as I said before, the levels of technology that the Sulaaq possess are so far beyond anything on Earth that it makes it highly unlikely that they are Zoroarks from my realm specifically. I therefore believe that they are Zoroarks from another parallel realm similar to my own. The languages there must be the same as in my world, but the technology is far more advanced."

"What a load of-" Lamira began, but Kamilia cut her off.

"That is quite an outlandish proposal, but given we've never even seen a creature like you before then it behooves us to suspend disbelief and spend time loaning credibility to the incredible. If all this is true, then what is the most prudent way forward, Mewtwo?"

"First of all, I know that the Vha'an people have already disabled the nearest tower, but is it still secured and vacant of any thralls?" Mewtwo asked.

"Yes, Taji Alirha dictates we ensure that the drain device remains offline for a week so that our people can use magic to celebrate, brew potions, enchant items, and perform a series of competitive games against each other. We brought our tower's device down three days ago." Kamilia replied.

"Perfect, then that makes this much easier. I can simply fly over to the tower myself and take advantage of their absence to read the panels on their machines. I'll do my best to discover their reasons behind attacking Ven'ravé and we can then decide on the most prudent course of action from there."

"You can fly as well?" Lamira asked incredulously.

Rather than speaking out loud, Mewtwo instead replied by scooting his chair away from the table and using telekinesis to levitate himself several feet up off the floor.

"Goddesses above! So it is true then!" Lamira gasped.

All three chiefs stared at him, albeit with varying degrees of amazement. Hadara, who was the least amazed of the three thanks to her previous experience with him, then reached up to grab the leg of his chair and yanked it back to land on the floor with a thud.

"Don't be a braggart Mewtwo. Tell us this, what will you do if a Chosen arrives to fight you again? Kalana told me that during your last encounter with one, it still managed to land a crippling blow that could have been lethal if she hadn't been there to save you. Moreover it threatened you with death if you ever stepped foot inside one of their towers ever again."

"I learned a lot in my battle with that monster. I now have a much better idea of what to expect from it and how to fight it. Unless multiple Chosen arrive to fight me as a group I am confident they will not be able to lay another claw on me again."

"Good. Fortunately for you the old scrolls and tomes have never once mentioned more than one Chosen showing its face in the same place at one time." Hadara said, nodding her head.

"Regardless, if the Sulaaq are capable of building literally thousands of towers that cover the entire surface of the world then it's not unreasonable to assume that they are capable of fielding multiple Chosen in one place. To rely on old dusty stories too heavily is foolishness, it assumes that the world never changes. What if a whole squad of Chosen arrive?" Kamilia asked.

This gave Mewtwo pause. He knew that he could fire multiple Aura Spheres simultaneously if he really needed to, though the strain would be great. The prospect of avoiding Dark type attacks coming at him simultaneously from multiple angles was much more dicey though, especially since they could pass directly through telekinetic barriers with impunity. The answer would have to be the creative use of telekinetic flight to out-maneuver and out-flank them so that he never was surrounded. As long as he kept his senses sharp and avoided ambushes, this should be enough to keep him safe.

"I can handle them. I have an ability called Aura Sphere that can easily overpower them. As long as I fight with intelligence and caution their numbers will not be a factor. I do think that I would like to have Kalana along with me however, if only to watch my back. I may have a psychic third eye, but it's unfortunately not located on the back of my head." He joked, chuckling softly.

None of the chiefs understood the humor though; they sat there quietly and gave him perplexed looks.

"Ah, I apologize, that was an Earth saying. What do you think though, do I have your blessings to move ahead with this plan of action?"

"Well, I don't think I necessarily believe in your hypothesis about the origins of the Sulaaq. But I can at least see the merits of this particular plan. There doesn't seem to be any harm in it. We've already raided this tower as is, we might as well take advantage of it." Kamilia said with a shrug.

"Agreed." said Lamira

"Very well, but we shouldn't delay. They could be preparing an attack as we speak. The sooner we can obtain any information the better. Can you go tonight?" Hadara asked.

"As long as Kalana is also willing, yes."

"Good. We will continue to discuss logistical matters while you perform this quest. We still need to decide where the Rakeshan people are going to sleep, and whether it's a wise idea to still hold the traditional festival games despite the recent tragedy and looming threat." Kamilia said with a nod.

Chapter 18: The Seer

Mewtwo checked the supplies strapped to his body one more time as he stood with Kalana atop Chief Lasheera's house. He had a fresh new Sulaaq rifle and the Vatorsa Spear strapped to his back, a few meals worth of dried jerky rations, and a satchel full of small black powder bombs. He and Kalana both wore similar brown patch-leather cloaks to ward off the biting nighttime desert cold. He could hear Kalana humming nervously as she double checked her own supplies. It was reassuring in a way to know that she was just as nervous as him.

"So, go over the plan of attack with me one more time just to make sure I have it straight." Kalana said.

"I will fly us South via telekinesis until we spot the tower. We make a straight line for it as stealthily as we can and land on the top, then climb down into the room with the remains of the drain device. I will then look around until I find a computer terminal. I'll use my palm to open it just like last time and then search their system for any and all information that I can find. All I need for you to do is keep a very close eye on our surroundings, just in case the Sulaaq try to ambush us while I work. If even the slightest thing feels off, warn me immediately. Even something as small as the faintest noise or the tiniest hint of movement could be a sign of an attack. If they do attempt to ambush us I'll grab you and take off to avoid their blows and then bombard their position from the air with Aura Spheres." Mewtwo explained.

"Alright, sounds simple enough. Without the drain device they won't have power to broadcast their incantation so we won't need any earplugs, but I'll bring us spares just in case."

"Good idea. We'll also have enough supplies to walk all the way back to Ven'vha just in case an ambush taps out my powers and renders me incapable of flying us back. There's only one thing that I am uncertain about."

"What's that?"

"Last time we did this you told me that typically the Sulaaq deploy reinforcements and have their drain device rebuilt again in roughly two or three days, but here it's been three days already and Chief Kamilia intends to keep it offline for another four. What's stopping the Sulaaq from retaking the tower tonight? Won't we run into them working on the repairs?"

Kalana smiled and patted the satchel full of bombs strapped to her side.

"Bombs, my friend. Every year we use explosives to collapse the train tunnels connecting our local tower to the rest of their grid. This delays them for more than a week since they have to dig out and clear those tunnels before they can haul in the parts for a new drain device. This is how we determined the traditional one week duration of a Taji Alirha stay."

"Ahhh, that explains it. Why not collapse those tunnels every single time you conduct a raid then?"

"It takes a large amount of bombs to successfully destroy the special Sulaaq construction materials and explosives aren't that plentiful. We need to keep a rationed supply on hand all year to deal with Moldugas after all."

"Ah, of course. I apologize for all the obvious questions Kalana, the answers seem quite evident now that you've explained them."

"Don't apologize, you've only been living with us for what...a few weeks now? There's still plenty left for you to learn. I don't think-"

Kalana's supportive words were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the wooden ceiling hatch squeaking on its hinges as it swung open and then thudded against the sandstone floor. Kalana and Mewtwo turned to look, expecting Kamilia or Hadara to emerge to see them off for their mission. Instead an unfamiliar young Gerudo child emerged from the hatch. She looked to be roughly the same age as Ruru, but was a little bit taller and thinner than her. She wore blue Vha'an finery and also wore a small silver tiara that matched her unusual reflective silvery eyes. She had sharper facial features and seemed to carry herself with a serious, deliberate demeanor despite her childish frame. Her facial expression was perfectly neutral and dispassionate, but there was something in her gaze that seemed to betray a weariness and maturity beyond her age. She walked right up to Mewtwo and spoke first while he was still trying to figure out what to make of her.

"Traveler. You shouldn't go. Stay here tonight please."

Her tone was just as emotionless as her expression. Mewtwo furrowed his brow as he pulled together a reply.

"Who exactly are you, little one?"

"My name is Indiru Lasheera, I am the daughter of Chief Kamilia Lasheera. I came here to warn you not to go on this quest tonight."

Mewtwo shot a concerned look to Kalana, who acknowledged it with a nod and came up to lay a hand gently on Indiru's shoulder.

"Does your mother know that you're up here? It's awfully late right now."

"It matters not, sleep is not as important as delivering this warning."

"Why shouldn't we go?" Mewtwo asked.

"Because you won't find anything useful, Traveler. All you'll discover is pain. The Sulaaq don't keep their secrets in some small backwater mining tower."

"How exactly do you know that?" Mewtwo replied.

"Because I am a seer. I possess the gift of prophecy, just like my great grandmother Mireth before me. I believe in her prophecies about the Traveler, and I've had a vision of this quest that you're about to embark on. I've seen how it will turn out. You will fail."

Kalana looked completely taken aback by this. She was lost for words for a few seconds, then replied as gently as she could.

"Foresight is an exceedingly rare gift, and you're far too young to manifest such talent Indiru. Even if you did have it, everyone knows that it's an unreliable skill at best."

"I know, and I know that you know, Traveler. You've used this power before too." Indiru said, fixating her gaze on Mewtwo.

Mewtwo suddenly felt his guts churn with dread. She was right, Mewtwo had experience using psychic foresight in the past and he was perfectly aware of its tenuous nature. Even a prediction mere seconds into the future could turn out wrong if the circumstances of the situation changed enough. But Indiru couldn't have known this unless she had been having visions about him already for a decent length of time by now. Moreover there was something completely disquieting about her formal tone of speech and severely serious nature. It was unnatural for a child of her age to act and talk like this.

"You've seen me before... Haven't you? That's why you're calling me Traveler, isn't it?" He asked.

Indiru nodded quietly. "Many times, in fractured and discordant fragments of vision."

"How much do you know about me?"

"Not enough, I've only seen muffled fragments that lack context. I've seen enough to know you fit my great grandmother's prophecy, including a vision of you leaving us and traveling deep into Sulaaq territory in the east. But I don't know how your story ends; I cannot complete Mireth's vision with what I know now. What I do know however is that this quest will only bring you misery if you don't listen to me."

"We can't just refuse an opportunity this valuable though. Prophecy is so often wrong, if there's a chance you're incorrect and we find something useful then I can't afford to miss the opportunity. Even if I do learn something terrible." Mewtwo replied with a gentle firmness.

"I had a sense you would say that. I've done all I can to warn you at least, I won't argue any further. But you will need this. When it works, you'll at least begin to believe me when I give you more warnings in the future."

Indiru then suddenly produced a small, ragged scrap of parchment that she'd scribbled two words on with a pencil. The message was simple: "Sarne Burns"

"What is this?"

Indiru turned away and walked over toward the hatch and began to climb down. Before she completely vanished back inside, she gave him a small smile.

"A password." She said, then slipped beneath the hatch and shut it behind her.

Mewtwo turned to look to Kalana again, hoping she would have some sort of reassuring thing to say about this. She shrugged a bit before speaking up.

"The gift of foresight does run in the Lasheera family, so it's entirely possible she's telling the truth. But it's been a long time since I've been to Ven'vha, Mewtwo. The last time I was here Indiru was a tiny infant in Chief Kamilia's arms. I can't exactly judge the honesty of her character based on past experience. But I've certainly never heard of a Seer manifesting their powers this young."

"A fair point. I do still want to go, since I know from firsthand experience how easily psychic foresight can fail. Besides, she didn't specifically say we'd be in mortal peril either." Mewtwo pointed out with a slight smile.

"Right. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."


For the entire flight South Mewtwo felt a growing sense of dread forming in his stomach. Something about the password that Indiru had given him seemed incredibly ominous. What if it was a reference to the burning of Ven'ravé? Perhaps "Sarne" was the Sulaaq name for it? He chewed this over in his mind for awhile, at least until his thoughts naturally drifted back to Ruisa again. He knew she'd have loved to have come along on this mission with him and Kalana in order to look for an opportunity to save him from an attack. The thought made his stomach sink and churn with sadness. He was almost grateful for the distraction when he spotted the single blinking red emergency light atop the Sulaaq tower appearing on the horizon.

"There it is!" Kalana shouted over the whipping of the wind. She pointed down at the tower with her free hand while her other hand held tightly to Mewtwo's hand.

"I see it. It's hard to make out in the dark though, I'll have to approach carefully. We should avoid creating any bright lights though, just in case any Sulaaq are already here."

Mewtwo slowed down considerably as they approached, both to avoid slamming into the tower in the dark as well as to prevent himself from inadvertently leaving a glowing psychic contrail behind himself that could give away their position. He was forced to fly without a telekinetic barrier for the latter reason as well, so the wind whipped sharply at his face and nipped away at his body heat. He was grateful when they landed on the cold, rough steel of the roof.

Up there he took a brief moment to absorb his surroundings. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, so without any of the light pollution created by human civilization he could see a gorgeous mural of twinkling stars overhead. Countless billions of tiny shimmering points dotted the heavens, drawing maximum attention due to the lack of moonlight from the new moon. The sandy dunes stretched out for miles all around them, barely visible in the near-complete darkness of the night. More interestingly, Mewtwo could see that the design of this particular tower seemed slightly different from the one near Ven'rakesh. There were eight smaller claw-like spires protruding from the top as opposed to the six on the tower back in Rakeshan territory. There also were two large horizontal pointed steel arms sticking out perpendicular to the tower, each one attached near the top and measuring about 10 feet long and ending with a flat tip. The whole thing was still built with the same black steel though, and he could still see the same hole in the center of the floor that led down into the interior. The only audible sound here was the rushing of the icy winds that whipped at their cloaks.

"Alright, let's move as quietly as possible. We should treat this situation as though the whole tower could be fully re-populated already even if we know it's not." Kalana whispered.

Mewtwo nodded and led her over to the edge of the hole in the floor. The two of them got down on their knees and poked their heads over the edge to peer inside. It was utterly pitch black in there, not even the starlight could penetrate far. There wasn't any sign of glowing consoles yet, but Mewtwo wasn't about to just give up. Rather than asking Kalana to strike a flare or light a torch, he created a tiny little orb of psychic light, as weak as he could make it, and held it just inside the room below. It cast just enough faint white light to give them the bare outlines of the room and its contents. Just like before there was a glass floor that showed the entire central vertical shaft of the tower below, and the drain device's massive bulk took up the vast majority of the room's space. Its twisted black steel bulk was covered in pipes and wires, and there was a huge hole blown into it by the Vha'an tribe's recent raid. There were two open doorways on opposite sides of the room and not a trace of any living being. Satisfied that it was safe to descend, Mewtwo climbed down and gently landed on top of the drain device's remains, followed quickly by Kalana.

A cursory search of the room revealed a now blatantly obvious flaw in Mewtwo's plans. With the drain device destroyed, there was no power to the facility. Without any power, there were no consoles he could operate. He quietly chastised himself for forgetting something so goddamn obvious, but thankfully disaster was averted when Kalana whispered to him from the other side of the room.

"Over here!"

Just past the open doorway was another security checkpoint just like the one in the tower back home. The checkpoint somehow had a working console attached to the inside of the chest high wall, just beneath the controls for one of its outward facing laser turrets. The console was very faint and easy to miss, especially since it was obscured by a chair. Mewtwo shoved the chair aside and laid his palm on the solid holographic screen, causing it to turn green and gently chirp before expanding to nearly triple its size and showing a huge flashing set of warnings.

"WARNING! MAIN POWER FAILURE!"

"SECONDARY POWER ROUTING FAILURE!"

"TERTIARY RAIL LINE POWER ROUTING FAILURE!"

"EMERGENCY BACKUP POWER AT 3%!"

"Reroute power from Primary Capacitor Array? Y/N?"

Mewtwo almost tapped the Y button, but then caught himself as a terrifying thought struck him. If he restored the power to the facility then the mind control incantation would immediately come back online and both he and Kalana would be enthralled instantly. Adrenaline spiked through his veins when he realized his finger had been an inch away from a supremely fatal mistake.

"I think I can get the power back on. Get those earplugs out now, it might re-enable the incantation if I do."

Kalana nodded and produced the four spare plugs from her bag, handing two to Mewtwo before putting in her own. He stuffed them into his ears and then gave Kalana one of the hand signals she had taught him last raid, "Get Ready."

Mewtwo reached down and tapped the Y button. The screen then gave him another window with the following prompt:

"Command authorization required to bypass security lockout. Enter password: _"

Mewtwo immediately typed in the password that Indiru had given him, "Sarne Burns"

The machine paused for a second, then flashed a green checkmark along with the text "Access Granted."

A loading bar then appeared on the screen along with the text "Power re-initialization in progress."

Mewtwo couldn't hear it well through his earplugs, but a deep thrumming sound reverberated through the entire tower, growing stronger in regular stages as each floor powered up in sequence. A few seconds later, blood red lighting flickered on in the room around them and he could just barely make out the sound of some female voice singing. That must have been the incantation.

Mewtwo and Kalana both immediately spun around to re-check their surroundings for any hostile activity that might have been aroused by the return of the facility's power. They swept their rifles around rapidly, watched the doors for several seconds, and then relaxed a little bit.

Kalana gave Mewtwo the hand symbol for "Clear", and Mewtwo nodded and turned back to the console. It was flashing numerous damage alerts now, indicating the offline status of the drain device, the rail grid in the basement, and the mining equipment deeper down in the living rock below. He tapped at those warnings to dismiss them and then found himself looking at a security system readout. There were video feeds available from hundreds of cameras all over the tower, as well as indicators from motion sensors, temperature sensors, and pressure plates in floors. The whole place was so stringently monitored that nothing would be able to escape notice. Fortunately every single sensor and camera picked up empty rooms, which sent waves of relief through Mewtwo. There were no Sulaaq here yet at all. He flicked to the basement cameras and checked out the rail station, seeing that both the rail tunnels were still absolutely crammed with steel and rock rubble that made them completely impassible. They were safe.

Mewtwo then discovered something a little frightening, there was a "Satellite Signal Strength" indicator on the top left of the screen, and when he tapped one finger on it, a window came up showing they had a full interlink connection restored to the primary communications grid. Figuring that this could be incredibly bad, he immediately tapped the button to disconnect from the network. The last thing they needed was the Sulaaq leadership realizing they had powered back online and looking in at the camera feeds to see him and Kalana in this room. Once it was completely disconnected he noticed that the muffled, dull sound of the female voice in the room suddenly stopped, and a textual warning popped up on the screen.

"WARNING: Mind Control Signal Feed Disrupted! Re-engage Satellite Interlink to restore? Y/N?"

Mewtwo hit N this time, then dismissed the warning and pulled out his earplugs. Kalana gasped a little when she saw this, but once a second or two had passed and he clearly hadn't been enthralled, she pulled out her own in order to speak to him.

"You scared the Poe out of me! Next time signal me before you just pull those earplugs out!"

"Sorry. Good news is I have full access to their systems though, I was able to shut down the Incantation easily. That password that Indiru gave us worked perfectly!"

"I guess that means she really is a legitimate Seer. I'm impressed."

"Indeed. There's more good news, I checked the security systems and they gave me views of everywhere in the entire tower. We're alone and the train tunnels are still sealed, so there's no danger of an ambush just yet."

"Thank Nariva for that. I'll still watch your back though, just in case the Chosen use their teleport power to surprise us." Kalana replied.

Mewtwo nodded and then began to explore more of the system while Kalana stood guard. He didn't push himself at a panicky pace since they were reasonably secure, but he didn't exactly sit around and take his sweet time either. The tower still had a creepy, disquieting atmosphere and Kalana did have a good point about the Chosen's teleportation power. He spent a good fifteen minutes searching around and learning how the controls and filesystem worked. The login he had entered apparently granted him "Clearance Level 4" according to the screen, which meant that every single file and folder was open to him. Unfortunately, his searching continued to dig up nothing useful like log files or recorded communications. There was a database of relevant schematics for the tower, as well as technical specifications documents and repair guides, and a manifest of on-site gear. But the longer he looked the more he realized that it was looking increasingly likely that Indiru's prediction was correct. It made logical sense, if this really was a "Small backwater mining tower" like Indiru had said then there'd be no reason to store strategically sensitive information here. In fact, once he found some of the operating system's internal logs for recent actions, it indicated a massive data purge had taken place here just a few weeks ago. A secure delete had taken place, wiping every single log and database file that wasn't necessary for barebones operation of the systems. Every single byte had been repeatedly rewritten with zeroes, ensuring not even professional data restoration techniques could recover traces of the information.

Mewtwo began to feel disheartened by all this, but he didn't yet show it in his expression. He didn't want to quit until he felt he had checked everything. Running out of options, he delved into the technical design specification documents that had been intentionally left behind. Even if he couldn't discover any of the motivations or reasoning behind the decisions the Sulaaq were making, at the very least he could try to learn more about how their technology worked. He still remembered a lot about mechanics, engineering, and technology from the time he had read the minds of the scientists who had created him, after all. He sifted through specs for the tower itself, getting a good feel for the layout of the interior chambers and learning where different systems were located. But he didn't expect this particular type of information to be what Indiru had warned him would be disturbing.

This wasn't just a mining tower, though there was indeed a sprawling network of mines and smelteries beneath it. The tower was absolutely crammed full of hundreds of extremely high-tech, bulky capacitors for storing colossal amounts of energy. The numbers he read were jaw-dropping. The rated maximum capacity for the entire capacitor array was nearly 100 Terajoules, which was significantly more energy than what was released by the nuclear bombs detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Suddenly the vision he had had back in the first tower of the whole thing going up in what looked like a massive nuclear blast seemed to make sense. This tower was akin to a colossal nuclear bomb, albeit with its energy stored in some strange new technology rather than in Uranium or Plutonium. His blood began to run cold and his tail thrashed around behind him as he read. He couldn't stop reading though, he had to know what possible reason the Sulaaq could have for storing this much power in one place.

The answer was even more horrifying. He saw now that that vertical series of conduits in the center of the tower's vertical shaft was a huge energy collection array, connected to the drain device on the top floor. That huge bulky device that the Gerudos thought was responsible for sucking the magic out of the world wasn't actually doing any of the sucking though, it was a colossal energy transformer array. The conduits in the tower drew ambient energy out of the air and channeled it into the massive transformer in the center, which then converted it to conventional electricity and transferred it to the capacitors. The energy absorption conduits ran extremely cold while sucking in energy, leading to the generation of significant amounts of condensed moisture, explaining why they were always soaking wet. This must have been the source of all the excess water that the towers were always dumping onto the ground just outside. There was more to it though, because there were more massive conduit arrays leading up from the transformer into the spires on the tower's tip. He followed those conduits and examined the spires, and what he read made him freeze in place. Those spires weren't signal antennae, they were energy projectors. The operations diagram for this system displayed the spires beaming the energy from those capacitors into a point in the sky just above the top of the tower and generating some sort of force field to contain it in a spherical shape. It would create the equivalent of a contained miniature sun inside this field until the capacitors were emptied, then drop containment all at once to release a colossal red firestorm that would billow out in all directions around it, scouring the land clean of all life. The rated distance for guaranteed lethality was nearly 100 miles in diameter with the tower at the center. If every single tower had the same capability like Mewtwo assumed, they could blanket the entire planet in cleansing flame with the mere push of a button.

"Well... now I know why Indiru was warning me not to read this." Mewtwo whispered, a hint of dark amusement in his tone.

"How bad is it?" Kalana asked softly.

"We need to get back and talk to the Chiefs again immediately."

Mewtwo turned from the console and began to prepare to leave, but another thought struck him. He paused and turned back to the console.

"Wait... before we do, I want to do one more thing."

Mewtwo remembered during their first raid on the Rakeshan tower, he had performed an "Emergency Capacitor Vent", and somehow this had managed to release all the tower's stored energy without causing a lethal firestorm. Perhaps there hadn't been very much energy stored there at the time? He wanted to know so he read a little bit more.

It took a little longer to figure out, especially since there was a fair amount of technical jargon that he had to find definitions of inside the indexes of the operations manual. But he learned that the capacitors had what was called a "Visibility Threshhold", which was a point around 90% charge where any further energy added caused the entire tower to start glowing bright red. At that fill level, the system's efficiency dropped off dramatically, so the procedure dictated that they would start up the projection spires and begin collecting the energy into the sphere above the tower in preparation for firing. This sphere would be easily visible for dozens of miles in all directions due to its sheer size and luminosity. Therefore, most towers stayed below 90% charge in order to avoid alerting anyone nearby that they were preparing to fire. Moreover, he learned that during an Emergency Vent the raw energy by itself usually would just shoot up into space where it would dissipate harmlessly. The hot plasma needed to be specifically triggered to explode outward after being pressurized and contained in the sphere first, so the Emergency Venting procedure was generally not an effective way to cause any damage to the surroundings. Though the procedure did fry every single capacitor in the entire tower, forcing the Sulaaq to replace them all before being able to bring their energy siphon back online. Overall though it was a really ingenious system, perfectly built to render a world's inhabitants powerless before then weaponizing that power to annihilate them all.

Now that Mewtwo knew this, he turned and said two simple words to Kalana. "Get ready."

Mewtwo grabbed Kalana's wrists and began to use telekinesis to hover them a few inches off the floor so he was ready to take off. Then he tapped on the console a few more times and brought up the same familiar screen that he had used before.

"WARNING: Capacitors are currently at 74% charge! Emergency Venting above the 50% threshold will cause catastrophic power overload and total system failure! Do not use except to stop explosive capacitor chain reactions!"

This time Mewtwo relished it when he pressed the "Override Safeties" button and then the "Confirm Emergency Vent!" button with two simple gestures. He then used his telekinesis to whisk himself and Kalana through the air, ducking through the hole in the ceiling above the huge transformer structure to reach open skies. They rocketed away from the tower as fast as Mewtwo could carry them, this time not bothering to hide the psychic contrail he was leaving behind. Once he heard a roaring boom behind them, he stopped and turned around to watch.

A gigantic column of fiery red plasma was shooting up out of the top of the tower and reaching into the skies. It looked like a gigantic version of the flames of an acetylene torch, if the torch flames were bright crimson and towered miles high. The light illuminated the desert for miles in all directions, casting an ominous blood red glow across the undulating dunes. Mewtwo winced and had to divert his eyes, it hurt too much to look directly at the column of burning fury.

"Goddesses above!" Kalana whispered in shock.

"That was only 74% charge too." Mewtwo replied in a quiet, morbid tone.

The flames rapidly faded to nothing after a few seconds, thankfully. Darkness returned to the desert, though the sheer intensity of the flames had burned a temporary blind spot into Mewtwo's vision. He could still see a dissipating cloud of smoke and plasma floating up higher and higher though, undoubtedly dispersing a large amount of the released energy directly into space. Red flashing lightning crackled in those clouds around where the column had been, and he could hear the distant rumbling of the thunder this created. It seemed miraculous that this sheer amount of released energy was directed safely and didn't utterly destroy the entire tower underneath it.

"I... was it this bright when we did it to our tower back home?" Kalana whispered.

"It must have been. I can't imagine how lucky we were to have survived it before. At least this should prevent the tower from firing for awhile longer though. We've bought everyone a little more time."

"Firing? Firing what? What could be worse than that towering inferno?" Kalana asked in a terrified tone.

"I'll tell you when we get back home, we need to warn Hadara and the others."